I beam with pride, everytime I read a Dr. King speech about the BUS BOYCOTT, or see the film BOYCOTT, or think about the fact that for over a year, people of color and of conscious WALKED.
So, it pains to say that at this moment in time....I really don't care if you boycott the chicken store or not.
Here's why.
1.Based on the quality of the chick place we are talking about. No one should make that chicken a regular part of their diet.
2. We are at a point in our global economy where for every chicken place, you boycott for being against gay people, there are about 3 more big chains that do far worse to people.
So we stop eating at Chick Anti Gay...but then we still can only afford a flat screen TV from from the big "Blue Mart" store that crushes other businesses. It's just hard right now to make a purchase that doesn't leave you with blood on your hands.
3.Most Importantly. WE ARE NOT SERIOUS ABOUT FREEDOM AND LIFE!
Yes. We have some people who are not qualified to do much more than boycott a franchise and that is important. However, the real work is in organizing discussion groups so that more people can understand that gay people are not two headed monsters , anymore than black people are gorillas. The real work is in meeting and working with people who may actually make you uncomfortable until YOU GET TO KNOW THEM. It's okay we all have MEDIA PROGRAMMING to clean up in our heads and hearts.
I could go on but please believe BOYCOTTING a chicken store is NOT as important as saving for your kid to go to college or reading about Rosa Parks and Dr. King or getting a $50 cam corder of some kind and making a film about something more important than a reality show about pro athletes and their concubines....all of those acts are more revolutionary and will have greater impact on your own life.
4. Even if you are BOYCOTTING Chic-ANTI-Gay...do not become a pest about it.
I would never take away the sense of pride that one gains from standing up for your beliefs and speaking truth to power. This is however, America and people have every right to be wrong. People have the right to hate gays, blacks, babies, women and the handicapped and I would be the first and last to defend their right to be wrong.
Plus I feel we do not help ourselves to create a world where people cannot talk honestly about what they don't like. That kind of pressure leads to people doing very dangerous things co-vertly when they could just tell me..."I really don't like black people."
And that statement is just that a statement...it doesn't warrant a march, an argument or much of a response.
The statement that offends me more is when people boycott Chic-Anti-Gay and they cannot tell you who Rosa Parks was, they only know Dr. King from "I Have A Dream" and they cannot effectively explain what a boycott is and what their goal is with the boycott. I am even more offended when they don't know what happens after the boycott?
For the record, I never ate at the chicken place in question.
If I had I would be thinking long and hard about going back.
I love certain cities, but I limit my dealings in these cities because they have disgusting trends in profiling people of color.
However, I write, discuss and educate people about these issues as a part of my life.
I do not wait for a spotlight issue to join a movement.
My life is THE MOVEMENT.
HERE'S TO FINDING YOUR MOVEMENT AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU.
______________________________________________________________________________
ADVERTISEMENT
No comments:
Post a Comment